PERCY JACKSON AND THE SPIRIT OF HOPE
by TushiSushi
Summary: This book is continuation of PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEVEN SEIZED. Percy discovers that Pandora's box, or pithos, has been stolen from Hestia's guardianship. He and the original gang, consisting of Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, and Luke, travel to recover it but when everything seems doomed, they discover a master plot that might very well mean the end of civilization. Rated T.
1. A Lot of Enchanted BANGS

PERCY JACKSON: Chapter One

I had loved Camp Half-Blood for ages, but today was the first time I thought that it was perfect. There had always been things that had bothered me, but this moment in time was impeccable. Apollo was completing his daily journey as the sun chariot was setting in the sky, causing it to change to a pinkish orange color. I strolled across the camp grounds, passing herds of satyrs and young demigods towards the cliff overlooking the beach. The ghosts had finally taken over the camp, but in a good way. Ever since the gods had accepted my idea to let the ghosts of fallen campers be sent to reside at Camp Half-Blood, as long as they mentored, the camp had become a more pleasant place. Annabeth and the ghosts of Clarisse la Rue and Luke Castellan were down at the arena, teaching a sword fighting class to a group of Aphrodite boys. Ever since Piper was sent to Tartarus about a week ago, the entire Aphrodite Cabin decided that they would like to be brave like her. Leo and the ghost of Charles Beckendorf were down at the forges with the rest of Hephaestus Cabin and Ares Cabin. Piper and Silena's ghost were at the Pegasi stables with Hazel and Frank, laughing at stories and jokes as they tended the horses. The ghosts of Michael Yew and Bianca di Angelo were training the Apollo Cabin in an archery class with Thalia in charge. Even Mr.D was more tolerable and kind now that he could see his dead son, Castor.

Even though all of these sights made me happy, I couldn't stop thinking about my conversation with Hestia on Olympus. I stared at the hearth at the center of the cabin grounds and my mind travelled back to that day in heaven.

Ω

My friends and I were leaving Olympus, cheering about our victory when a figure in a green hood stepped out of the hearth in the center of the throne room.

"Lady Hestia?" I had said. I turned to the others. "You guys go ahead. I'll meet you in the lobby of the Empire State Building."

When they had left, Hestia walked closer to me. "Perseus Jackson, there is a major problem" she had said.

"What's happened?"

"Do you remember the gift that you gave me after the Battle of Manhattan?" she asked.

"Yeah...I gave you guardianship of Pandora's Box. Why, what's wrong?"

"Pandora's pithos," she corrected me,"and...it's been stolen."

It had taken me a little while to register what she had said. I was shocked. This was definitely a major problem.

"How could this have happened! I thought you were the only one that new where it was?"

She shook her head. "That is not quite correct. The Olympian Council was made aware of it's location. When I discovered that it was missing, it had looked it had been stolen the day after the Feast of Spes."

I was even more shocked. "It was stolen the day after the day we defeated Gaea. But if the entire council new where you had hidden it, that means Ares knew too! That sly-"

"I'm not sure of anything quite yet. But I'm not saying that I don't suspect Ares's hand in all of this after the stunt he pulled with the demigods this week. I will try to track it down but if I do not find it's location in a week, I will appear at the hearth at Camp Half-Blood at midnight to take you. I will launch a quest that no one can know about."

Ω

I started walking back towards my cabin. It had been a long day and I had taught six classes. What I needed now was some relaxation time. I walked pass some Demeter kids using their powers to grow potatoes in front of the Ares Cabin, which by the way had not ended well the first time they had done it, when I noticed that my cabin door was slightly opened. I had remembered that I locked the door when I had left and put the key in a conch shell near the door. I took my pen out of my pocket and it morphed into Anaklusmos. I slowly tiptoed inside my cabin and quietly closed the door behind me. It was silent, except for the gurgling noise of the fountain in my room. I walked over to my bed and then someone pushed me into it. They locked my hand behind my back and had a dagger ready to slit my throat.

I smiled. "Damn...I can't believe I fell for that again." Annabeth released me and then started giggling. She dangled a pair of keys over my head with her metal arm.

"You know Percy, these are far more effective inside a fake rock." Then she jumped next to me and we kissed for a while. Then I quickly drew back and literally jumped off of the bed.

"What the heck Percy?" said Annabeth, sounding a little disappointed.

"No wait" I said, my eyes widening. "It's him. Oh my gods, it's him!"

"It's who?" she asked, confused.

"My empathy link! It's going freakin' crazy!" I jumped towards the door with Annabeth right behind me. She grabbed at the door and yanked it open and we both grinned from ear to ear.

A satyr dropped his bags loudly. He had shaggy brown hair, both on his head and his goat legs. He seemed taller than I had last seen him and his horns were way larger and seemed to be curving back slightly.

"Wow. I can't imagine what you to were doing in there" said Grover.

"AGGH!" Annabeth screamed with happiness as she tackled my best hugged her back and then he came over to hug me. I didn't think it was weird

at all. I hadn't seen him in forever.

"What are you doing here, G-man?" I asked.

"Oh, now that I'm not a kid anymore, I put a pause on my guardian duties for a while to spend some time, seeing the world with Juniper. I thought that I would come back for a while because of something I plan on doing here...and to see my best friends!" Annabeth squealed and hugged him again.

"Wait, what do you mean you're not a kid anymore? Is that some goat humor, because you're only a year older than me and we're still not exactly adults.

And what do you mean that you had something to do here?"

Just then Thalia and Luke rushed into my cabin and dropped there swords. Thalia screamed.

"Do come in," I muttered.

"AGGH!" she jumped over to Grover and they hugged each other for a long time.

"Hey, G-man" said Luke leaning against my nightstand.

"Luke? Okay apparently I've missed a lot" Grover said with Annabeth and Thalia still all over him. "I thought you were dead?"

"Yeah well a lot of us dead people have returned to camp,"

Grover nodded slowly like he still had no idea what he was talking about but then turned to us. "Okay guys! Now that the whole original gang is here,

I want to make an announcement." Then he turned to me. "Percy, you know that in human years, I'm about year older than you."

I nodded "Yeah, man you're almost 19"

"And satyrs mature twice as fast as demigods or humans, so I'm really 38,"

I hesitantly replied because I had totally forgotten about that. Chiron had told me when I was twelve that Grover was 26. "Yeaaaaaah..."

"And I should probably get on with my life..." said Grover.

"Sure, but what does this have to do with us," I said.

"I'm married...to Juniper...since last month...and I want to celebrate tomorrow...just all of us in the woods."

I bet that Annabeth screamed even louder with joy than she had screamed with pain in Tartarus. Luke, Grover, and I were the ones screaming in pain as the girls managed to pop our eardrums...Luke was faking his screams because he was dead...he couldn't feel any pain...but you know what I mean.

Ω

I woke up the next morning happier than the day before but nervous as well. I just had the feeling that something wasn't right...because nothing was going wrong. I got in the shower and for about five minutes I just stood in there with water running, completely distracted, and I was completely dry. After I actually managed to get wet and cleaned up, I put on some clean clothes and shut my door, this time making sure no one was looking at me while I hid my keys inside a different shell on the porch. The weather was amazing. It was already warm and sunny. Birds were chirping and the pegasi were snoring. It was very calm. I jogged towards the forest to the spot Grover had told me about yesterday where I saw that Thalia, Grover, Luke, Annabeth, and Juniper were already sitting there, laughing on a picnic blanket.

"Haven't you guys heard of fashionably late? Anyway, its ten in the morning...that's way to early on a free day..." I walked over to Juniper. "Congrats Juniper...take care of my best friend."

She laughed and nodded. Then I sat down with everyone and kinda tuned out as they all conversed. Today was the date that Hestia said she would appear at the hearth, a week from our chat in Olympus. Then I started feeling like something was wrong again. I felt like we were being watched. Then I noticed that the only noise in the entire forest was coming from us. It was peculiarly quiet, which was unusual because this forest was infested with monsters of all size. I focused my eyes and scanned the area around us when I realized what was surrounding us. Little glass containers that were faintly glowing green were all around us, and that was bad.

"EVERYBODY HIT THE DECK!" I yelled as loud as I could. It probably wasn't the right thing to say because we were all already sitting, but it was the first thing I could think of screaming. All of them curled up without doubting my seriousness or anything when there was a large booming noise that rang out throughout the entire camp. Bottles and jars of Greek fire exploded. The first thing I noticed was that the fire was hotter than usual. The hairs on my forearm burned off. The flames reached a height of twenty feet and they crackled loudly. Explosions rang out, growing distant and quieter and then coming back around.

Glass and shrapnel had shot outward in many directions. I had a cut on my neck and blood was seeping out. Annabeth was alright, just a nick on the forehead. Luke and Juniper were unharmed because they could turn into smoke. Thalia seemed to only have a few bumps and bruises.

"Let's go everyone! Now!" yelled Luke. He dissipated into gray smoke and sped through the forest, making a path for us. Thalia ran after him and I helped get Annabeth up. Grover and Juniper were right behind us. The trees were starting to burn and crash down. I took out Riptide and started slashing away to make a clear path for us. A tree came crashing down is front of Grover but he and Juniper slid underneath it right as it fell. In the smoke, I could see a figure flying towards us.

"Is everyone alright!" Jason said from above.

"Yeah, we're all fine! Get us outta here, will ya?" I asked loudly.

I felt a strong wind push me upwards and our entire group flew up to a great height. I felt a little nauseous because of how high I was...high as in height not because I was on drugs or anything. Soon we rose over the green smoke and could see the entire camp from above. What I saw was frightening. A circle of Greek fire surrounded the camp, but it didn't seemed to be spreading. But the forest looked like it would soon burn to the ground.

As we all landed, the first thing I noticed was that the infirmary was filling up with demigods and satyrs and nymphs, all pretty banged up. Campers from the Apollo cabin were running around to try and heal whoever they could but as soon as they fixed someone up, another patient would be rushed in.

"Grover and I are gonna go to the infirmary to help," said Juniper, already grabbing his hand and heading towards the building.

"Thalia and I will go and look for anyone who's trapped or lost," said Luke as he and Thalia ran towards another part of camp that was burning up.

Annabeth and I opened the doors to the Big House. Chiron was directing everyone in the Big House, shouting loudly. A lot of the Athena kids were laying out maps and drawing on them. I could see the gears spinning wildly fast in their heads. When Chiron saw us he looked relieved.

"Oh Percy and Annabeth, great to see you two are fine," he said.

"I'm not," said Mr.D grumpily as he walked outside to take in the sights of the bombing.

"We don't have any severe casualties so far, just very injured demigods. Do you too know anything that might help," Chiron asked.'

"Nothing...everything happened so suddenly. Why bomb Camp Half-Blood now? We are at peace with everyone right now" said Annabeth, upset. Then she put on her serious face. "I need Malcolm."

"Already here," he said walking towards us from a different room.

"What's the situation, Malcolm?" I asked.

"So far the Athena Cabin has calculated that twenty Greek fire bombs were detonated around the camp. They create a perfect circle and prevent anyone from entering or exiting through the camp borders."

"But this isn't normal Greek Fire," I said.

Chiron nodded. "It would seem so. These bombs were very much more dangerous and fiery. They are enchanted."

Malcolm nodded in agreement. Annabeth started asking him questions fast.

"Are you sure that they are enchanted?"

"Yes" Malcolm replied.

"What are we doing right now to handle the emergency?"

"Leo Valdez is being escorted to several of the bomb sites throughout the camp to try to get rid of the fire and Jason Grace is in the air, trying to blow them out,"

"Is Hecate Cabin doing anything? They are the magic cabin and these bombs are enchanted!" Annabeth said.

"Oh, gods, you're right" he rushed out of the Big House. Annabeth turned to me.

"Percy, I need to make sure things happen out there," she said. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and ran out yelling something about spells.

I faced Chiron. "There's absolutely no way to get out?"

"Not at all. Even communications are down and we can't reach Olympus or Camp Jupiter tor request for assisstance. Leo can not walk through the fire and Jason can't seem to blow them out."

"And the only other ways out of camp is through the Labyrinth entrance underneath Zeus's Fist, which was destroyed." I said. Then I thought of something that had a chance of working out for me.

"Chiron, I think we should stop trying to get rid of the fire. It's not spreading at all. We need to focus our attention on helping injured campers."

"Is there something that you aren't telling me, Percy?" Chiron asked as he put his hand on my shoulder. After hesitating I shook my head and walked out of the Big House. I think Chiron knew that I was hiding my idea. But a goddess had told me to not tell anyone anything. If Hestia would come to take me with her to launch this quest for Pandora's box tonight, I could travel with her through the hearths back to Olympus. I could finally figure out the specifics of what had happened and what I could do to fix everything. I doubted that the robbery of the box and the bombing today were unrelated.

Ω

HI PEOPLES! This is the first chapter of my second book. IT IS CONNECTED TO MY FIRST ONE! You have to read PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEVEN SEIZED before you read this to understand some things. Tell me what you think. And as always, all rights go to Rick Riordan.


	2. We Have a Fiery FaceTime with Ares

Chapter 2:

It was a sight that I had dreaded not to ever happen again. Total destruction at Camp Half-Blood. The enchanted fire still surrounded the camp and no one was making any progress in getting it down. So much blood was spilled today, but so far there had been no deaths. Chiron and I left the Big House in a hurry with Mr. D and Malcolm in charge of the current situation. Chiron thought it was best that he was out, being our best healer and all. As I ran towards a group of campers, lying down in the middle of the courtyard with blood trickling down their foreheads, I could see Annabeth in the distance with the Hecate Cabin. They looked like they were throwing magic at the fire but they didn't look like they were succeeding. Jason was flying towards the infirmary overhead with a camper in his hands. As I looked at the nursery, I could see Juniper, Hazel, and Piper helping out but it looked like they were struggling. The infirmary was already filled with campers and they were starting to set up cots in the courtyard.

I reached the campers who were lying down and they moaned.

"We…we were at Thalia's Pine…there was a bomb…we were trying to run back to the infirmary…" said the camper. Then he passed out. I dragged him and the girl next to him towards the center of the courtyard and Piper came rushing towards, rolling a cot in front of her like a shopping cart.

"Percy! Oh my gods you're alright," she said as she helped my put the campers on the cot. "Is Annabeth alright?"

"Yeah," I said with a sigh, "she's up with the Hecate's trying to lower the fires. It seems like they aren't spreading, just encircling the camp-"

"Percy, what the Hades is going on? The infirmary hasn't ever been this full with injured campers. We don't have many healers that aren't injured themselves and we haven't even found all of the campers yet! Why is this happening?!" she exclaimed.

"I can probably you some insight" said Rachel Dare from behind us, helping a satyr stand up right. One of the healers quickly came over to her and took him towards the other injured campers.

"Rachel? Did you have a vision or something?" Piper asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No but I'm pretty sure that whoever did this to the camp is trying to prevent us from leaving. And since we can't communicate with the rest of the world right now, some major crap could be happening, and we would have no way of knowing."

"But why? We don't have any enemies anymore!" said Piper looking miserable.

"We always have enemies," I said grimly, "that's what's so freakin' bad about this whole hero thing. But we can't discuss this right now, we need to tend to the campers. We'll hold a council meeting tomorrow."

Piper and Rachel nodded and I turned around to jog towards the beach, looking for injured campers.

Ω

It was getting really dark. The infirmary was starting to empty out and campers were being sent to their cabins for bed rest. Most of the senior campers had skipped lunch and dinner while we were helping to restore order.

I trudged back to my cabin about a half an hour later. All the campers had been found and Chiron ordered a council meeting in the morning. I knew I wouldn't be there if Hestia would come by tonight. When I walked in, Tyson was already asleep and was snoring loudly into a large jar of peanut butter. He was getting bigger and he looked like had to start curling his feet a little to fit on the bed. I went over to my bed and hopped in. My muscles relaxed and I realized how tired and hungry I was. The time was 11:55. I put the pillow over my face and yelled. I could never get any rest.

I tiptoed towards the door of the cabin and peeked outside. The hearth in the center of the courtyard was burning bright. In its light, all I could see were empty cots and bloody bandages. Everyone had probably gotten healed and sent back to their cabins. There was no one in sight. I walked out and slowly closed the door behind me. I walked down the steps and quietly sprinted towards the hearth. I found a cot and jumped on top of it. Whatever happened today was extremely confusing. Who had bombed the camp? Why didn't they want us to leave? Who had stolen Pandora's Box? Why? All of these questions were nagging me. I felt something big coming, I just didn't know what.

The fire in the hearth grew a little warmer and I got up and walked over. The fire made a few crackling noises and the goddess walked out. I heard a voice behind me, but when I looked behind me there was no one there. I was getting the feeling that someone was watching me.

"Percy Jackson, the time has- what in the world?" she said as she looked around her.

"The camp was bombed. We can't walk out of the border. It's enchanted. I think it might be connected to you-know-what getting stolen" I said.

"The situation is worsening…and I have not found a solid lead. We must go back to Olympus to further discuss this matter" she said as she grabbed. We were about to walk into the hearth but then she stopped and let go of my hand. She looked into the courtyard with stern eyes and then smirked. "That is if everyone would show themselves."

I looked around confused. What did she mean? Then I saw the darkness ripple in front of me and Annabeth was standing there, her cheeks red and her Yankees cap in her hand.

"I said everyone" said Hestia.

Nothing happened. Then Luke appeared in a gray smoke, Grover rose out of the ground and Thalia peeked out from underneath the cot I had sat on.

"You all were spying on me?" I said furiously, but quietly.

"Hey, it's not like you were being truthful with us!" Luke retorted.

"Chiron said you were acting weird" said Thalia, getting on her feet.

"This is not the place for this. All of you, come to Olympus. We have serious matters to discuss." Hestia walked in to the fire and then the rest of us walked in behind her, our bodies vaporizing.

Ω

I furiously kept walking into the fire and seconds later I was storming down the throne room of the gods. Hestia was in front of me and when I turned around, I could see Grover, Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth with their hands crossed. I decided to not say anything because I knew if I ever got into an argument with Annabeth, I would lose…terribly.

"If you all are done with your issues, we have to focus on what's more serious," said Hestia.

Annabeth walked passed me and turned towards Hestia. "I'm very confused about what's going on Lady Hestia"

"And she's Annabeth" said Grover.

"Why were we bombed? Why can no one walk out?" Annabeth asked.

"I suppose I have to start from the beginning" said Hestia with a sigh. "When you all came back to Olympus after your duel with Ares, I held back Percy because I had to tell him something. Percy had given me something to guard a while back…Pandora's pithos."

"The vase thing that Prometheus gave him during the Battle of Manhattan…I think I remember that."

"Yes, well, Pandora released everything that was kept in that pithos, all of mankind's suffering. The only thing that remained was Elpis, the Spirit of Hope," said Hestia, "and if released, it would cause our side, the side of the gods, to lose hope. We would not be able to accomplish anything. It would prove to be a major threat if its location ever became unknown."

"And how does this relate to the crap the camp just went through?" asked Luke, sounding a little mad and confused.

"She doesn't know where it is" said Annabeth. She turned around and looked at me. "It's been stolen. That's what Hestia had to tell you."

"I had stored it where hope survives the best…at the hearth" Hestia said as she pointed to the massive hearth that we had just walked through. "It was locked away in a fiery cage in that hearth. The gods knew of its location, but only I could access it…or at least I thought so."

"When was it stolen?" asked Thalia.

"The day after the Feast of Spes. I only recently discovered that it had disappeared."

Annabeth paced up and down the throne room. I could literally see the gears turning at max speed inside her head. "If all the gods knew of its location, then Ares did too. Could he have stolen it?"

"I doubt it. He wouldn't dare. But then again he kidnapped six demigods and severed your arm off. But we can ask him for assistance" Hestia said. She walked over to the hearth and her eyes glowed bright. She waved her hand over it and the fire roared. Inside it, an image focused and I could see a figure with shining chains on his wrists and ankles. The figure seemed to be in some kind of cell. I could hear loud screaming and moaning.

"Ares" said Annabeth. "Ironic how you ended up in the same cell you kept me hostage in."

Ares looked up from inside his cell in the Bronze Fortress in Tartarus. "Annabeth! You-"

"ARES!" boomed Hestia's voice. The five of us jumped. We had never heard Hestia's voice this loud. "Something has been stolen from my hearth. What did you do?!"

Ares smirked. "Ah…Pandora's pithos. I didn't know you were getting so careless with your things, my aunt." He shook his chains. "And if you haven't noticed, I've been kinda busy lately."

"What are those chains made of?" asked Luke.

"Olympian diamond, Luke Castellan. Nobody can break out of it" said Ares.

Hestia's face reddened. "It was stolen before you were imprisoned, Ares!"

"Well, then I'm sure you remember how incapacitated all of us Olympians were…unless you stole it!" said Ares.

Hestia arched her eyebrows. "Urggh! This is a waste of our time!"

"But I do know who really stole it" said Ares.

Annabeth stepped closer to the hearth. "That's impossible."

"But is it?! Think daughter of Athena! Who is the only other person who could even know the location of the pithos? Who is the only one who could call for it whenever they pleased!" said Ares, tauntingly.

"I don't know!" yelled Annabeth.

"I'll give you a hint. Who is the immortal woman that was gifted the blasted vase in the first place?"

Annabeth's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "But why would she steal it?"

"Countless reasons. She could've gotten too curious and wanted to open it again" said Ares.

"But that's not what you think" said Annabeth.

"Obviously not. That woman was the first woman ever created by the gods. She was a Trojan horse! The gods were angry with Prometheus giving mankind fire. So after he was chained, we decided to give his stupid brother Epimetheus a gift…the first woman. Then we gave her a box containing all of this world's suffering, knowing full well she would open it. She's easy to manipulate. Anyone with the power of a god or anyone more powerful would easily be able to influence her decisions."

Annabeth stared into Ares's eyes as if trying to decide if he was telling the truth. I was even more confused than I was before. Who the heck was this woman that they kept talking about?

"I think we've heard enough," said Hestia. The glow in her eyes began to fade and the image of Ares began to flicker.

Annabeth turned around quickly. "Lady Hestia, stop!" She looked at Ares again. "What happened to my arm?"

There was silence. Ares smile went away and he had a stern look on his face. He looked around the cell and then closed his eyes for a bit. When he opened them he said, "I…I don't know."

Ares's image faded from the fire. Annabeth looked up and said, "The person who stole Pandora's Box…it was Pandora."

Ω

_Some Unknown Location…_

A hooded figure was slowly walking down an alley with a sack slung across their shoulder. It was night and the crickets were chirping furiously. The alley was foggy but the person in the hood seemed to not mind. A face wasn't visible. The person kept walking until they doubled over and cried in pain, clutching their head. Then the person in the hood looked up at the starry sky.

"What do you want?" said the hooded person. There was no one else there. But in her head a heavy voice boomed.

_"Do you have the packages," _said the voice in her head. The person still looked at the sky and responded out loud.

"Of course I do." The person opened the sack and inside it an ancient wooden vase with white and amber diamonds coating its border, green emeralds and purple amethysts, rubies the color of blood and sapphires along with gleaming white pearls. Next to it was a three foot long chrome cylinder tube.

"_Good" _said the voice. "_My hideous wife won't know what hit her."_


	3. I Take My First Skydiving Trip

"Pandora?" asked Thalia, sounding a bit surprised. She was jogging to keep up with Annabeth who was leading us away from the throne room. The corridor we were in was dark, with only a few torches hung here and there on the walls. It had a very high ceiling with very intricate designs that sparkled like Ares's Olympian diamond chains.

"That's the only explanation. The pithos is Pandora's. It's a magical item, like Percy's sword. He has a magical tether that always keeps it close to him. Pandora and her pithos probably share a similar connection. She would know of its location at all times." Annabeth walked a little faster and then turned right into another hallway.

"Well then why steal it now?" asked Luke who was hovering close behind Annabeth.

"Ares said someone could've been manipulating her. She's probably following orders. But who is controlling her?" I asked.

"I don't know…and I hate it when I don't know" said Annabeth and then sprinted to the end of the hall.

"Why are you running?" asked Grover. Even he couldn't keep up with her and he had hooves.

"I'm looking for the freakin' armory," she said as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm trying to remember where I put it when I redesigned this place." Then she suddenly stopped pulled open a door on her right. Inside where dozens of swords racked up on the wall in many sizes. Some were made of Imperial Gold, Celestial Bronze, Stygian Iron, and Olympian Diamond. There were daggers and axes, bows and arrows, machine guns and tridents, baseball bats, and vats of Greek fire. Basically, it was a field day for any Ares Cabin member.

Annabeth turned around quickly. "Grab what you can. Now that we know who's sorta behind all of this, we can't waste any time." She rushed in and started choosing a sword and shield. None of us argued with her and walked in.

I walked inside with the others, and I have to say, none of the weapons looked right to me. I took out Riptide and flipped the cap open. It grew into the Celestial Bronze sword that had saved my butt far too many times. I walked over to Thalia, who was looking at a vast selection of trick arrows for her bow.

"You sounded surprised when Annabeth mentioned that Pandora was the bad guy…er, girl. What's up? I asked.

"Nothing, Percy. All I can say is that Pandora isn't my most favorite person in the world right now. But who the heck is she working for. I'm pretty sure that she can't enchant Greek fire…speaking of…" she said as she walked towards the large jar of glowing green fire.

I stared at the wall and started thinking about what Thalia said. I had this feeling that Thalia wasn't telling us something about Pandora. And who was this powerful person that was ordering her around.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, Jackson?"

I jumped and backed into a rack of swords. They clattered to the ground and I could hear my heart beating furiously. Luke was laughing behind me and the others smiled and shook their head.

"Nice job, Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said.

I turned around to look at Luke. He grinned. "Wow, Jackson. You look like you've seen a ghost…oh wait…"

"Haha, very funny. I'm laughing. I was thinking about something and you just startled me. If Pandora's so smart, wouldn't she have realized that Hestia would've eventually figured out who stole the box?"

Annabeth thought for a second and nodded. "Hypothetically, yes. What's your point?"

"She stopped the camp from chasing after her. Why hasn't she stopped Hestia yet?"

Beneath us the ground shook and a loud booming sound echoed through the palace. All of the weapons fell off of the walls.

"Aw, hell no!" said Grover loudly.

"Did that sound like what I thought it did?" Luke asked.

"Someone's bombing Olympus!" Grover exclaimed.

"Pandora" muttered Thalia. "Let's go!"

We all ran out of the armory and ran down the halls. Luke ran faster than us and hopped right through the walls. When we found our way back to the throne room, he was waiting there with Hestia.

"Children, out! Now!" she yelled, pointing out the door which forcefully opened at Hestia's command.

"What about the hearth?" I asked.

"I can't escape using it…It's not allowing me to enter!" Hestia yelled.

There was another boom and out the open door I could see a truly marvelous sight. It was horrific, but marvelous. Above the mountain a dome of purple fire was forming and moving around the mountain, beginning to encase it. The five of us ran down the steps of the palace, trying not to fall every time there was a boom. Residents of Olympus were running and screaming in the town on the mountain. From the distance I could see the silhouette of a person standing in front of the elevator.

"Over there!" I yelled pointing to the elevator.

We sprinted through the crowds of people and saw the elevator door open. The figure stepped inside. Once we got closer to the elevator I could see that the person's face wasn't visible but they were wearing a green cape and hood and had a sack slung across their shoulder.

"Pandora!" yelled Annabeth. We were about to leap across the floating boulders to reach the elevator but the elevator door closed. As it closed the person brought their hood back a little and I could see a smile. Then the elevator shot down. Behind us was a city of fire. The dome had completely wrapped around the top of the mountain and was working its way to covering the bottom hemisphere. The elevator shot back up in a few moments and the door open.

"We need to hurry after her!" Luke yelled as he hovered over the floating rocks and went in the elevator. We were about to go in after him but stopped abruptly once he came speeding out.

"Run!" he screamed. We started to run away from the rocks and elevator, confused at first. But then the elevator disintegrated and my eardrums almost popped. There was a bright purple light and a shockwave sent all five of us flying through the air. I landed hard on my stomach and rolled over to the edge of the ground. Beneath me I faintly see the Empire State Building and the island of Manhattan. My ears stopped ringing and I noticed that the dome of fire was about to completely shield Olympus, just like Camp Half-Blood. There was still a gap below us, and it was closing up fast.

"Everyone! Jump off the edge!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I slowly got up off the ground.

"WHAT!" yelled everyone, clearly thinking I was insane.

"Don't ask! Just do it! We don't have a very large window of time!"

To demonstrate how uncrazy I was, I let gravity do its work on me and leaned towards the edge. I felt my feet leave the ground and before I knew it, I was falling off Mount Olympus. I was looking up at Olympus as I was falling, the wind shooting through my hair. I could see Annabeth and Grover jumping off and Luke pushing off Thalia. I smiled. Thalia was the key part of my plan. As long as she was with us. We could still maybe not die today. I looked below me and then next to me, with my friends at my side. This was pretty epic…and pretty damn terrifying. Above the fiery sphere closed around the floating mountain, making a loud clapping noise.

All of Olympus lost communication with the outside world as we fell towards Manhattan.


	4. Percy Hates Us, That's What It Is

As we were free falling, I felt my stomach starting to rise up my throat. Annabeth had her arms and legs spread out wide and was yelling with Grover falling next to her. He was screaming louder than she was. One my right was Luke, falling through the air while standing up right like a rocket. He was showing no fear, probably because clashing with the ground wouldn't kill him…because he was already dead. Thalia didn't look too great.

"Oh, I'm gonna puke!" she yelled as she threw up. I saw the contents of her stomach fall below. I lifted my arms towards my face as we fell through the clouds. Now I could clearly see the streets of Manhattan and the tall pointy top of the Empire State Building. If we didn't do anything soon, I would become a half-blood shish kabob.

"What was your plan, Percy!" shrieked Annabeth.

"My plan?! Oh right my plan!" I looked over to Thalia who looked like she was going to hurl again. "Thalia! Are you alright?!"

She looked over at me with a face so terrifying I thought I might wet myself. "What the hell kinda question is that, Percy?!"

"Sorry! We just need you to focus! Try to control the wind and air around us to let us fly!"

She just stared at me. "Are you freakin' kidding me?! You know I can't do that and you know I'm flipping terrified of heights, Percy!"

"You're scared of heights?!" yelled Luke, Grover, and Annabeth at the same time. They sounded surprised and I thought they would've burst out laughing if the situation was slightly different.

"That's the problem! You can't control something you're scared of! You have it in you! If Jason can do it, so can you!" I screamed. I looked below us and now we were close enough to barely make out cars driving on the busy streets and tiny New Yorkers hurrying past each other on the sidewalks.

"We're gonna die!" yelled Thalia.

"Well not all of us…"said Luke, "I'm already dead…"

Thalia shot an angry look at Luke and her eyes crackled with energy. "Shut up, Luke!"

I felt a super cold blast of air jerk me to the right. As I looked around, all of us had been shoved around by the air.

"Thalia! It's working! Use your anger!" I pointed over to a body of water. "The East River! If you can use the wind to push us above there, I can make sure that we will survive!"

"Percy, I swear, if this blows up in our face, I'm going to make sure that I will be worst nightmare, even in death" Thalia said. We were getting closer and closer to the ground. I saw Thalia close her eyes and when she opened them, blue energy zapped from them, illuminating the area around her. She looked even more frightening than a gorgon's face. She screamed and as I looked to my left I could see a large white cloud blowing towards us.

"What the hades-" said Grover, but before he could finish, all of us were tumbling around in a cotton ball of vapor. I bumped into Grover and I'm pretty sure his hooves slammed against Annabeth's back. I lost all sense of direction as I was being forced all over the place inside the cloud but suddenly Thalia calmed down and the blue in her eyes faded away. She closed her eyes and passed out and the cloud cleared away. I could see underneath myself again, but now instead of seeing cars and pedestrians on asphalt, I saw us about to crash into the waters of the East River.

"Oh shiz" I yelled as thrust my hands outwards. We all screamed as it looked like we were about to belly flop on the river but then we jerked to a stop, hovering two feet over the water. Then I lost my energy and we fell in.

I kicked my feet around in the water little, even though it took me little effort to stay afloat. My clothes and skin were dry, but there was nothing new about that. I could see Annabeth swimming towards the docks. A few feet away from me I could see Grover and Thalia kicking frantically, trying their best not to drown. I willed the water to propel Grover and me towards the shore and Luke literally glided through the water while pulling Thalia with him.

By the time we got to the boardwalk, Annabeth was already there ringing the water out of her blonde hair. She was dripping wet, but she actually looked kinda hot.

"Wow, Seaweed Brain…your plan actually worked" she said.

"There's a first time for everything" muttered Thalia as she trudged out of the water. She walked over to me…and slapped me on the face.

"Pull a stunt like that again and-" she started.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll kill me, I got it."

Grover and Luke chuckled for a bit when Grover spoke up. "Wait a second. You're a ghost Luke. You could've hovered off. Why were you falling with us?"

"Well, I thought it would be dramatic…I mean I wasn't going to break every bone in my body from the fall so…"he stopped abruptly when he realized everyone was staring at him.

We all walked down the boardwalk, towards a parking lot nearby. An old man with crooked teeth and greasy clothes was crouching down next to a ferry with his eyes glued on us and his jaw dropped to the floor. I realized that he had probably seen a girl with energy surging through her, controlling a cloud with a bunch of teens tumbling inside. Then he probably saw her drop all of us from a great height, hover over the water before we were supposed to crash and then smoothly fall in. And I wasn't wet, which I'm sure he had noticed as well.

I went towards the man and his mouth was still wide open. I looked into his eyes and tried to concentrate. I snapped my fingers. "You didn't see any of that. You were just tending to your ferry here."

"I'm impressed," said Thalia. I grinned. This was the first time I had manipulated the Mist in a real world situation.

"Yeah, well Chiron may have taught you how to do it years ago, but Hazel has been training me since what happened with Gaea."

We walked past the boats and the ferries and strolled into the parking lot. I sighed with exhaustion.

"We have gone through so much crap…Annabeth, review…please." I said.

"Right," she said, getting some leaves out of her hair. "As far as I can tell, some greater force is manipulating Pandora to do his or her bidding. So far she's has stolen her pithos and is on the run. We don't know why or where she's running. To prevent us from delaying her, she's surrounded Camp Half-Blood in a ring of enchanted fire along with the holy mountain we just jumped off of. Neither place can communicate with the rest of the world now. So pretty much, we're the only people that can do anything about any of this."

"Wow," said Luke. "Your lives are really messed up."

Ignoring him, I turned to Annabeth. "So what should we do next?"

"I would say we should start looking for Pandora and go after her."

"Agreed" said Thalia. "Grover you should do a tracking spell or something like that with your satyr juju."

"Um, got it" he said, looking a little offended, "but she's most probably heading south. I'll get to work on the tracking enchantment. If only I could find some acorns…" He walked off looking around the lot, picking up little rocks and pebbles along the way.

All of us just sat down on the sidewalk, waiting for Grover to hurry up. He came back in a few minutes with a few nuts and rocks and reached into his pocket, pulling out his pipes. He laid them out in front of him and the four of us huddled around him, trying to figure out what he was doing. As Grover blew into his pipes, I tried not to cringe. It was making damaging noises but it seemed to be working. The nuts starting shaking and reassembled themselves and started moving. First the rocks made the shape of a woman's face. Then they changed and shaped themselves into the form of a vase. They stopped moving after the vase turned into a long pointy structure.

"Okay…thumbs up for the cool magic," said Luke, "but what the heck is that."

"It's the Washington Monument" Annabeth said abruptly. Then she looked at us with her _duh-it's-obvious-face. _"Grover was right. She's heading south."

"Well I don't want to sit in a car for who knows how many hours…" said Thalia.

"...four hours…" said Annabeth.

"Four hours! We need a faster way. And besides, we don't have a car…not that we couldn't hijack one…"

I thought hard about what are options were. Then I had an idea. It was the kinds of ideas I liked. The kind of ideas that "others hate but have to go along with because there is no other option".

I turned around and faced my friends. "We have another way" I said as I took my necklace out from under my shirt and showed it to everyone.

"Oh, hell no" shouted Thalia furiously.

Annabeth, Grover, and Luke looked confused. "What? What is that?" Annabeth asked, pointing to my necklace.

"Percy hates us…that's what it is" said Thalia, clearly knowing that my idea was the best option.


	5. Curiousity and Questions (and DEATH!)

"What? I don't hate you guys! Annabeth's my girlfriend, and I definitely don't hate her! Besides, I'm the quickest way for us to get to the Washington Monument. Pandora already has a head start, she's probably half way there already" I said in protest.

Thalia looked like she was ready to murder me as we stood in the corner of the parking lot next to the East River. It was late into the afternoon and all of us were too tired to search for a van and drive to D.C."

"Stop talking," said Annabeth forcefully. "Percy, what is that necklace?"

"My dad gave it to me before Ares attacked Camp Half-Blood. Basically it allows one…or in this case, a group of people, to travel from one body of water to another, even if they don't touch."

"We tried it when we were heading to Santa Monica Beach, to speed up the trip, but I swear I couldn't use the bathroom properly for a few days…" Luke arched his eyebrows.

"It's not that bad. She's being overdramatic. All we have to do is get in the water, hold hands, and I can do the rest."

"You can't be serious-" Thalia started.

"We're doing it Thalia. We have to hurry" Annabeth said.

Thalia hesitated and then final spoke up. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Good" I said. I started heading back to the boardwalk when I remembered something. "Oh, yeah. I need to know a location. What's the nearest body of water to the monument?"

Annabeth closed her eyes for a little bit. "Uh…I guess it's the Reflecting Pool, across from the Lincoln Memorial. But Percy, it's not even a lake or a river…"

"We can still try." The five of us sprinted back to the boardwalk and the guy was still there crouched down. We walked past him, and he didn't stare at us like he did before. The trick with the Mist actually worked, which made me feel proud. Once we got to the edge of the board walk I heard a whizzing noise.

I whirled around quickly and pulled Riptide out of my pocket swiftly. It was kinda like instinct.

"ARGHHH!" screamed the man next to the ferry. We all gasped when we saw the blood gushing from his left shoulder. He screamed in pain and started looking around, limping his way towards his boat. He saw us and yelled "Kids! Help! I-" and all of a sudden, he stopped screaming and his eyes closed. A sharp silver triangle sprouted from the man's chest and he fell to the wooden planks with a dreaded "thump".

Behind him, we could final see his attacker. A girl in a green hood and cape was holding a dark bow with a shiny arrow aimed towards us. Her face was still not visible under her hood, but dark locks of her hair showing out from underneath. She had a sack slung across her shoulder. It was a terrifying sight. She shot one straight at us and I ducked as it flew an inch over my head and straight into the water behind me. Another soared towards Annabeth, but she raised her metal arm and it ricocheted off.

"DIVE! IT'S PANDORA!" she yelled. Grover, Thalia and I dove in to the river as soon as Annabeth warned us. Pandora ran towards Annabeth and Luke and Annabeth froze for a second. Luke looked wildly at her and muttered quietly. "Do I always have to push you girls in?" He grabbed her and they both jumped in. I created a bubble so we could all breath and quickly everyone joined hands. I tried to be calm and imagined a pool of water and the Lincoln Memorial and my necklace glowed bright blue and slightly burned against my chest. As blue light flickered around our little bubble in the water, I felt us lurch forward at what felt like light speed. I kept my eyes closed as I felt water pass through every single cell in my body. It felt like a gigantic fan was blowing at us, but I felt great.

Ω

_A few seconds before the demigods transported away_

"Do I always have to push you girls in?" said the tall boy with the sandy hair and the scar on his face. He grabbed the girl with the blonde hair and the grey eyes, the owl-spawn. They jumped in before I had a chance to shoot at either of them.

I ran to the edge of the boardwalk and a circular portion of the river glowed with the strangest, yet most beautiful blue light. It made me quite curious. It also had made me curious how they had evaded me for so long. I moved the black hair that covered the side of my face behind my ear and drew an arrow from my quiver. I aimed it into the light under the water and let go. The arrow zoomed in and a few seconds later, the light faded. I unhooded myself and grinned.

I gazed into the sky and closed my eyes. A deep voice rang inside my mind.

"_Is it done? Are the demigods dead yet?" _said the voice.

"I fear it'll be more difficult to kill them than previously thought master" I said aloud. "But I have delayed them."

"_I suppose that will have to do, Pandora. Make haste, I cannot wait any longer"_

"I am curious though. Why have me steal my pithos? Why the day after Gaea-"

_"DO NOT SAY HER NAME!" _boomed the voice.

"-the day after _the earth mother _was defeated and put back into slumber? Why steal an arm out of the pits of Tartarus? Why does any of this matter?"

_"Remember child, your curiosity is what released horrors on this earth, so long ago."_

"Fine," I said. "Don't tell me. I'll be where you want me tomorrow"

"_Good…and remember. I need the boy captured as soon as possible"_

I nodded and hooded myself again. When I turned around. A man walked onto the boardwalk and screamed.

"What the hell happened!" he shouted as he ran to the body of the man I had killed earlier. "You!" he said pointing at me. "Call an ambulance!"

I walked towards him. "Ah, unfortunately, there is no saving him…as there is no saving you."

The man looked at me frantically and confused…Then I pulled out an arrow and shot him in the heart and continued my journey south. I would have to hurry, if I wanted to reach the Sea of Monsters by tomorrow night.

**AHHH WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING! I know you are probably wondering what the heck is happening. What will happen to the demigods? What happened when Pandora shot an arrow into the water? Who is Pandora talking to in her head? The Sea of Freakin' Monsters? WHAT? The answers will come soon, so keep on reading? ***


	6. The Truth Becomes Even More Confusing

The heat burning from my necklace died down and the blue energy around us was starting to fade. The gust of air soon vanished and I opened my eyes. All of a sudden we stopped moving and all of us let go of each other's hands. We were laying down on our backs and the water only came up to our ears. We all got up, everyone except me was soaking wet. To our left we saw a grand structure with way too many stairs and a bunch of pillars. Inside it, a man, President Abraham Lincoln, sat in a gigantic chair like one of the ones on Olympus. To the right we could see a large, white obelisk with little flags surrounding it.

"It actually worked!" cried Annabeth.

"Well of course it did. But I feel like I'm gonna hurl…children of Zeus don't really like getting there body parts rearranged in the water" Thalia muttered as she bent down, looking a little green. Luke walked through the water (literally) and put his hand around her shoulder. He looked back at me and mouthed "That was awesome!" with his thumbs up.

I trudged over to Annabeth and Grover. "We need to leave, get you guys some clothes and figure out a plan. It's pretty unlikely that Pandora is here yet, seeing as she hadn't even left New York when we jumped into the water. We have time."

Annabeth nodded quickly, like a bobble head doll. "Yeah, Percy, but that necklace actually worked. I have to study it. Something like that wasn't in Daedalus' laptop…it's amazing! When we get back to camp…oh my gods." Annabeth stopped abruptly and the color drained from her body. I was confused. She seemed really excited, and then all of a sudden she looked like she had seen a ghost…besides from Luke, of course. Then she pointed behind me.

"Thalia!" Grover shouted. I turned around and Luke was standing in front of Thalia, trying to keep her up. I knew that something was wrong but I couldn't see her from behind Luke. Then I saw that the water around their feet was red…and that it wasn't water.

Annabeth, Grover, and I hopped towards them in the water. Luke was muttering to himself. And Annabeth gasped. Thalia had an arrow through her right shoulder and blood was dripping.

"What happened!" shouted Annabeth.

Luke was still holding her. "It's okay Luke…sit me down" said Thalia forcefully through her teeth. Luke slowly sat her down and started stuttering.

"I dunno what happened…I…I thought she was gonna puke and then suddenly an arrow shot out of the water and just…and just impaled her shoulder" he said.

I felt a pang of realization. "Pandora must've shot an arrow in the water right before I whisked us away…gods, I'm so stupid! I shoud've gotten us out faster!"

"No, it's my fault. I hesitated before jumping. I don't know why, but if I had jumped in faster then she wouldn't have had time to shoot at us" said Annabeth.

"Mom? Dad? Can we please focus on the arrow that's sticking out of me?!" yelled Thalia.

"Right" Annabeth and I said at the same time. Grover inspected the arrow and then sighed.

"It's a clean shot. No major damage done to her blood vessels, that's why she isn't gushing, only dripping…I think I can get it out, but it might hurt a little."

"Why aren't you screaming in pain? You seem awfully calm for someone who has an arrow through their body.

Thalia looked at me with another one of her signature murderous looks. "Because, seaweed brain, I'm the freakin' lead archer for a gang of arrow shooting maidens who have sworn off boys for eternity! I've been shot in the shoulder before!" I could feel my face redden. Thalia was scary when she was angry.

"I need a knife!" exclaimed Grover. Annabeth unsheathed her dagger.

"Here use this." Grover grabbed it and the slowly started working on trying to take off the sharp triangular blade that was dripping with Thalia's blood. In a few seconds he sawed it off. Now it looked like there was a stick stabbed into Thalia's shoulder, which looked ridiculous but I didn't point it out to her.

"Okay, Thalia. Now I have to pull out the stick from behind you slowly-"

"Do it fast and get it done with!" she shouted. Poor Grover just nodded and walked (or whatever hooves do) behind her. Thalia grabbed Luke's hand and squeezed his hand tight. Luke obviously didn't feel any pain, being the dead person that he was, but I wondered if anything was going between the two of them.

"AGHHHHH!" Thalia yelled. My hands almost shot upwards to protect my ears. Grover stood behind Thalia with a bloody stick in his hand and quickly dropped it and wiped his hands in the water. Thalia breathed heavy for a bit and then Annabeth took of her jean jacket and cut a strip of the cloth. She walked over and wrapped it around the wound. Thalia walked over to me and I was prepared to get yelled at again, even though I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Sorry for yelling at you Percy. I'll try not to do that again. Unless you do something stupid. Then I will" she smiled at me and then walked out of the Reflecting Pool. We all scurried after her.

We made our way through some trees and then followed a stretch of green towards the tall monument. As we walked, we couldn't help remembering the last time we had been in this city.

"We came here a few years ago on our quest for Artemis. Bianca was here with us" said Thalia.

"She's still with us…she's just a ghost at Camp Half-Blood" Grover said.

"The last time I was in DC, I fed some space ice cream to the Nemean Lion" I said.

"The last time I was here, I ordered Atlas to grow skeleton warriors to kill all of you," said Luke, "or at least the Kronos influenced part of me did."

Annabeth sighed. "I've never been here…wow. I'm a daughter of Athena and I've never been here, a city with so much interesting architecture." The National World War II Memorial passed by on our left but we didn't stop to admire it. After crossing the road in front of us, we walked along a long walkway and finally reached our destination.

"It's so tall" said Luke, putting his hands up against the monument.

"Why is Pandora coming here?" I asked.

"I don't know but we have some time. Let's rest for a while." Annabeth said.

Ω

_Pandora's Point of View_

Mortals had such strange taste of clothing. Being the oldest woman of all time, I had seen fashion throughout all of history, but I have to say that this century was the weirdest. I had to blend in to get close to the children as my hooded cape and weapons, so I had found myself a hoodie and some jeans. I wore black sunglasses and a large floppy hat to hide my face. My clothes didn't exactly match but they would have to do. I had a knapsack slung across my shoulder with the tube and my pithos in it and was strolling across the National Mall and towards the Washington Monument.

As I got closer, I could see the children sitting on a bunch. The satyr gazed in my direction once or twice but didn't seem to recognize me. So far, everything was going according to plan. My mission was clear. To incapacitate the demigods and the satyr, but take one of them: the boy. Then I was to take him to my employer. As simple as that. But I head read up on these demigods. They were present in the Battle of Manhattan when Prometheus so proudly handed over my pithos as a sign of good faith. They had fought the earth mother too. I would have to be faster, smarter, and deadlier.

Ω

I had my arm around Annabeth's waist and was enjoying myself. I hadn't spent any quality time with her in a while. The sunset was beautiful, the sky full of vivid shades of red and orange. Large crowds and other couples like us passed by as we strolled around the monument.

"Ooh!" squealed Annabeth. She pulled out her phone and dragged me towards a woman that was walking by us. She had long black hair and wore a large floppy hat. Her face wasn't that visible under the hat's shadow and her sunglasses.

"Uh, sorry, ma'am," I said, "would you mind taking a picture of me and my girlfriend? It's her first time in D.C. and it is really nice out." She looked a little surprised. She looked around as if to make sure we were talking to her and not someone else.

"Um…sure. I suppose so" the woman said. She came over to us and Annabeth showed her the button to tap on her iPhone. We walked back and posed with the tall Washington Monument behind us. We smiled. I put my hand around her hips and she put her around mine.

"Now?" the lady asked.

Annabeth nodded. "Now."

So many things happened at once. The flash went off, which the woman probably wasn't expecting. Behind her, a boy rose from under the ground, materialized, and then grabbed her from behind with an iron grip. I had to say, Luke had style and looked pretty badass.

"Agh!" she exclaimed. She looked like she was in pain, which I had no problem with. When the lady was getting ready for taking our picture, Annabeth was slowly reaching for Anaklusmos and I was reaching for her dagger. We lunged forward and held Annabeth's dagger in front of her neck and Annabeth held my fully grown sword behind her neck.

"You really don't know a thing about fashion, Pandora. Grover spotted you before you could even get close to us. But your ugly getup also helped" Annabeth said, her grey eyes piercing Pandora.

People were starting to shout and run around now. I didn't know what the Mist was showing them, but it was probably more than they could handle.

"You fools are smarter than you seem" Pandora said, trying not to move. If her neck moved slightly, my sword or Annabeth's dagger would cut her up pretty bad. "But you kids really need to pay more attention to everything."

I looked down and I could see Pandora's hand inside her bag. She pulled out a jar with some green substance that sparkled purple. My eyes widened. "GUYS, MAKE A BREAK FOR IT!" Luke let go of Pandora and rushed to get the people around us away. Annabeth and I ran as far away from Pandora as possible when suddenly there was a loud BOOM behind us. The both of us fell forward but weren't injured. Behind us, the pathway was set ablaze with enchanted Greek fire. I squinted and could see a silhouette in the flames. A hat shaped shadow morphed into a hood and her clothes morphed into the armor we had seen her in at the docks in New York.

"Do not make the mistake of underestimating me!" Pandora yelled with rage.

I got up and ran for her. Pandora smirked and dashed towards me with her bow. Riptide clashed with her bow with a deafening "SHING!" I slashed at her with the complicated maneuvers Chiron and Luke had taught me, yet she deflected all of my attacks…with a freakin' bow! I finally got in an attack when my sword cut her hand.

"Ah!" She cringed. Drops of golden ichor, the blood of immortals, dripped from her hand. She looked pretty pissed. She hit me upside my head and knocked me out for the moment.

I was pretty much out of it. I hit my head on the hard concrete and everything was blurry. I could see Annabeth making her way towards Pandora. She took her dagger and slashed at Pandora and the fight was epic. I hadn't seen Annabeth fight this hard in years. She was way more experienced than I was, making her an even unbreakable opponent. With a loud cry, Annabeth stabbed her in the shoulder.

"AGH! Fool!" Pandora screamed in pain. She would heal eventually, but right now she wasn't looking so hot.

"That was for Thalia!" Annabeth yelled. She pulled out her dagger and stroked a powerful hammer fist with her metal arm on Pandora's bow. It shattered into a million pieces.

Ω

_Annabeth's Point of View_

_"So much adrenaline is pumping through my body"_ I thought. Shattering that bow was extremely satisfying.

Pandora lay in front of me, unable to get up at the moment, but I could see her wound starting to heal. Behind me, Percy was slipping in and out of consciousness. Luke was still on crowd control, because the police were having a hard time doing it themselves. I looked around to make sure that Thalia and Grover were still in their positions. I could see their faces, but they were well hidden. I was sure that Pandora didn't know where they were. I grabbed my dagger again and held it close against her throat.

"Let's try this again, immortal first lady. Who in hades is manipulating you to attack us? Why? Why did you steal your pithos?!"

She just chuckled. "T'was mine and I wanted it back. Your friend Thalia's dad gifted it to me a long time ago, to trick me into releasing all the negative forces on earth. But a gift is a gift. And it wasn't Prometheus's to give away. Anyway, how is Thalia doing? I don't see her here."

I tried not to slit her throat then and there. I was breathing heavily and tried to keep my calm when I saw Pandora's sack. I sheathed my dagger and pressed my metal arm against her head. I grabbed the bad with my free hand and rummaged through its contents. Inside it was Pandora's pithos, but what I didn't recognize was the three foot long cylindrical chrome tube.

"What's inside this?!" I asked.

She shrugged. "Why don't you…ah! Why don't you see for yourself?"

I slid the tube out of the bag and started unscrewing the cap. When it popped off, I almost had a heart attack. I started hyperventilating.

"_Oh my gods! Oh my gods, this is impossible!" _My mind was trying to comprehend what was happening, but I was feeling too sick.

Inside the tube was my arm. It appeared to be in perfect condition, aside from the fact that it wasn't attached to a body. The arm that Ares had severed from my body in the Brass Fortress in Tartarus. Ares really didn't know where it had gone. At the bottom of the container was a pool of red…my blood.

"You…you stole my arm from Tartarus."


End file.
